Forever And Always
by Empress Empoleon
Summary: What they had was easy and ubiquitous; it was forever and always./ Ron, and living a year without Hermione.


_The present has no ribbon,_

_Your gift keeps on giving._

_What is this I'm feeling?_

_If you want to leave, I'm with it._

_-Get Lucky, Daft Punk._

* * *

"Are you out of your mind?" Ron dropped the folder he was holding, the papers spilling over the floor. "Why would you want to go back to Hogwarts?"

Hermione sighed, as if she knew this would happen. "Because I care about my education, unlike you, and want to finish my N.E.W.T.S.."

"But-" Ron sputtered. "But you can't!"

"Oh really?" Hermione drawled, leaning back in the love-seat. "And why not?"

"Because you've already finished all seven of your years," Ron retorted, regaining some of his old stubborn confidence. "They won't let you."

"McGonnagall is allowing any of the seventh years from last year to return for a repeat if they wish to complete their schooling correctly," Hermione quoted.

"You can't," Ron declared.

"Why not, Ron? Hermione asked, sounding more exasperated than curious.

"I won't let you."

"Ron, you don't own me."

"I'm your boyfriend?" Ron sounded more like he was asking her than saying so.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you control me." Hermione laid a hand on his shoulder, and he slouched, defeated.

"I know it's hard, but I have to do this. It's important to me," she whispered in his ear.

"I don't want you to leave me," Ron said, cursing himself for his weakness.

"I'm not leaving you for forever," she said. "I'll write to you, and-" But her words were muffled by Ron's shirt; his arms were wrapped around her and his face was nestled in her shoulder.

"Oh, Ron," she said, stroking his hair.

* * *

"Do you really have to go?" Ron asked for the twentieth time.

Hermione gave him a look. "No matter how many times you ask me, the answer will not change. Yes, Ron, I do have to go."

Ron huffed, looking the other way. Why did she have to be so dead-set on school, after all this time? She was smart enough as it was.

They had saved the bloody world, and she was worried about finishing her N.E.W.T.S..

It was times like these when Ron wondered why he had fallen in love with her in the first place.

* * *

"You have everything?" Ron asked, squeezing Hermione's hand.

"Yeah." Hermione didn't sound like her usual self; instead she sounded sad, and tired.

"I guess this is it then," Ron said, wishing it wasn't so, wishing that tomorrow morning he wasn't going to wake up alone-

Hermione threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck, inhaling deeply.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Hermione choked, and Ron knew he was a step away from crying himself.

She took a step back and jumped on the train, just as it started to move.

"Bye!" Ron yelled. "See you at Christmas!"

Hermione waved, wiping away tears with her other hand. "Bye!"

"I love you," Ron called as the train rounded the bend. He knew she hadn't heard him.

Ron stubbornly wiped his eyes dry. _No_, he was _not_ crying, he just had something stuck in his eye.

* * *

The next morning Ron woke up to the cold absence of Hermione next to him and really began to cry.

(It just seemed so real now.)

* * *

It had only been a few days and Ron already couldn't handle it.

The silence was horrible. It stabbed into him, like a thousand shards of glass.

They had always said that you don't notice what you have until it's gone; and it was only now that Ron fully understood the meaning of those words.

Hermione had always been there. Like another part of him. And now that she wasn't, he really heard the deathly quiet around him, really heard his own lonely breathing.

When Hermione had been there, she used to fill the room with her talking, with her laughter, with _her_. Even the silence shared between them was like soft music.

This silence was unforgiving; the room had never seemed colder and darker.

* * *

Ron eagerly waited for Hermione's letter. It was all he could think about.

When it came a few days later, he instantly tore it open and began to read it.

It was nothing special. It really was only Hermione going on and on about what she did that day and what she learned and who she talked to but to Ron it was the world.

He read it and read it and read it until he had all the words memorized.

He sang her letter to himself and got through the day.

* * *

Her letters were what was keeping him going, but they still weren't a real person.

Christmas was coming upon him, and Ron was suddenly happy, happier than he had ever been in his entire life.

"She's coming back," Ron whispered in glee because, hell, Hermione was coming back! He'd finally get to see her face instead of her words on parchment, hear her voice instead of read her words, hold her in his arms instead of wish she was there with him.

The train couldn't have come slower in Ron's opinion, but when those doors opened, nothing mattered anymore.

She stepped off the train in an orange turtleneck and jeans, her brown hair as bushy as ever.

"Hermione!" Ron threw his arms around her and held her close. "Thank Merlin."

"I missed you." Hermione hugged him back. There was a pregnant pause. "Did you miss me?"

Ron laughed dryly. "You wouldn't know."

* * *

Christmas came and went much too fast; Ron dropped off Hermione at the station again and it was September all over again and he broke all over again.

"Just until summer. Then this nightmare will end," Ron mumbled to himself, opening up one of Hermione's old letters to read again, even though he knew it all by heart.

(He was beginning to have a suspicion that Hermione _was_ his heart.)

* * *

Spring had arrived; trees were growing new leaves and buds were opening.

New life was emerging all around Ron, but he still felt like he was dying a slow, painful death without Hermione.

It was horrible. People were becoming steadily happier due to the better weather, but their joy was only feeding Ron's growing grudge against anyone who was remotely happy.

Hermione's letters were far and between now, because of her approaching exams. Ron didn't want to bother her, but he wasn't sure if he'd make it to June.

"Almost there," he told himself, like this whole year had been a marathon without Hermione.

* * *

The next morning Ron walked by some blood red roses, growing amidst a lot of other brambly bushes. He managed to pick one, after a bit of a struggle.

It was a very painful reminder of someone he wasn't with.

* * *

It began to rain the next day.

The weather matched Ron's mood very well.

* * *

She stepped off the train for the last time, steam enveloping her and fluttering her hair around.

"Ron!" This time it was Hermione who ran and hugged him. "Oh, Ron."

This time they didn't need words though. Ron quickly placed his lips on hers and everything faded away.

* * *

The next morning, at daybreak, he brought her outside to watch the sun rise.

They were quiet as they watched the glowing ball of fire ascend in the orange sky. They were together, and they didn't need anything else.

What they had didn't need words; it was easy and ubiquitous; it was forever and always.

* * *

A/N:Um I feel like this kind of plotless but whatever.

_Done for:_

_Tour De Fiction Round 1 - Using the prompts Get Lucky by Daft Punk, rain, and pregnant._

_Fanficion Olympics - Floor (Write a song inspired fic.) Using the prompts Hermione Granger, Daybreak, Romance, "I missed you.", and orange._

_Trojan War Competition - Round 2 (Ron/Hermione) Using the mandatory prompts smart, sky, ball, the optional prompts "Are you out of your mind?" and reminder, and the bonus prompt angst._

_All Sorts Of Love Competition - OTP_

_OTP Boot Camp - Prompt #37: Letter._


End file.
